


Smoothie Cup

by enbycupcake



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship, Trans Character, Trans Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 16:11:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18264827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbycupcake/pseuds/enbycupcake
Summary: Riku's simply being nice, picking up a forgotten plastic cup and trying to return it to its owner. He didn't expect said owner to be his childhood friend, Sora.





	Smoothie Cup

**Author's Note:**

> Sora is me, and I'm Sora. I was the dumbass who left their smoothie cup on top of their car. Sora and I differ, however, in what happens after lol. I did not meet a long lost childhood friend.
> 
> In case you skipped the tags, Sora is trans. The pin on his jacket is a trans pin; that's why Riku didn't immediately connect Sora's signature hairdo to Sora from childhood. Also, this isn't proofread.

Riku watches as the cute college student places his cup on the top of his car. His attention had been drawn when he’d heard the laughter, the warmest sound he’s heard in a long time. Upon seeing the person the sound belonged to, Riku had been struck by what looked like a freshman, tiny and lively with unruly hair that reminds him of his childhood best friend and a blinding smile. Riku, needless to say, had been interested. 

But he wasn’t about to be the weirdo to accost a stranger, so he was going to simply observe from afar and lament to his old roommate. And his plan was going great until the freshman got into his car sans bright red cup. Riku tries to call out, but he’s too late. The truck pulls out of its spot while the cup goes falling to the ground. It miraculously doesn’t shatter completely from what Riku can see. Tossing his bag onto his arm, Riku jogs to pick the cup up as the unaware freshman keeps going out of the parking lot. 

Bright red plastic shows no cracks, but the same can’t be said of the cup’s lid. It’s not too damaged that it renders the cup useless, but it’s definitely lost anyway aesthetic appeal. Deciding the cup is probably worth it to the freshman, Riku climbs into his car after glancing to make sure he knows where the truck is heading. He pulls out of the parking lot and weaves through traffic to try to get behind the truck. Sticking his arm out, cup in hand, Riku hits his horn when he’s sure that he’s in view of the freshman’s mirrors. 

The freshman doesn’t look at any of his mirrors. Riku rolls his eyes as he hits the horn again. Still, nothing. Letting out a breath, Riku flicks his blinker on. Merging into the next lane, Riku honks his horn again. For good measure, he yells out, too.

“Old farm truck! Nasty green!”

The freshman turns, confusion etched onto his face, before his eyes land on his cup. Riku shakes it a little. The freshman mutters what looks like an oh no. Letting out a huff of laughter, Riku brings his arm back into the car and pulls into the next residential area. He’s followed, thank god. After stopping and shifting to park, Riku steps out of his car. The freshman does the same, the most bashful expression on his face. 

Riku refuses to think about that, willing his cheeks to not redden. He lets the freshman come to him, spiky hair bobbing with each step and lips transforming into a smile, his eyes a startling shade of blue.

“Thank you so much! I didn’t hit you when the cup fell off, right?”

Riku shakes his head. “I just saw it. Didn’t break, so I figured you’d still want it.”

“Thanks so much! Really!”

The freshman takes the cup from his hands, and Riku swallows. “No problem, honest.”

“Still! Lemme buy you a coffee? Or a tea! Or a smoothie!”

Laughing, Riku allows a small smile. The freshman’s even cuter than he’d first thought. “I don’t want to hold you up.”

“You wouldn’t!” A tilt of the head, lips parting. “I’m not holding you up, am I?”

“Nah. If I had somewhere to be I wouldn’t be chasing college students who forget their reusable cups, now would I?”

The gets Riku an adorable pout, the freshman’s lips jutting out and arms crossing. “Be nice...what’s your name? I’m Sora!”

“Sora?” Riku blinks, startled. He eyes the dark brown hair, the impossible mess of a style and the ocean eyes looking at him. He actually looks at the pin on the freshman’s jacket, the blue and the pink and the white stripes. “Do you happen to be from Destiny Islands?”

The mention of Riku’s hometown makes Sora perk up. “Riku? I thought maybe because of your hair but then silver hair’s become a trend so then I thought maybe not but is it you?!”

“Wow.” Riku blinks at Sora, and he so badly wants to pull him into a hug. It’s been years since he’d left Destiny Islands in the dead of night as a young teenager; he’s missed Sora more than he’s ever admitted aloud, but Sora’d have every right to punch him. Riku never told him he was leaving. “It’s me.”

Arms get thrown around him and he’s being pulled down into a hug. Riku lets Sora dig his fingers into his back and gingerly places his own hands on Sora’s. Sora sighs into his ear as he melts.

“I thought I’d never see you again.”

Riku’s fingers betray him; they involuntarily tighten against Sora. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Sora squeezes him before pulling away, a bittersweet smile on his face. “Kairi said she’s surprised you didn’t run sooner. She also owes you a punch for not leaving a note, so I’d watch your back. I am telling her I saw you. Also, you have to let me buy you a drink now.”

“Of course.” Riku blows air out of his mouth as he leans his head forward so his bangs cover his face. “Does she go to your school, too?”

“Nah, she’s still back home. You weren’t the only one to run away.”

Riku feels a lump form in his throat, cutting through his happiness at reuniting with Sora. “Your moms didn’t accept you?”

“What?” Sora sounds confused, and he stomps his foot. “No, of course they did! But I wanted to get off the islands, too, remember?”

“Right.”

“Anyway, we should probably get off the street. A mom’s looking at us funny, just sitting out here in front of our cars.”

Glancing to his left, Riku sees that Sora’s right. Rolling his eyes, he gestures back to his car. “Do you want to exchange numbers?”

“I wanna take you out for a drink, remember! And then numbers.”

Snorting at Sora’s whining tone, Riku shakes his head. “Okay, where do you want to take me, Sora?”

“There’s an awesome tea place right off campus; we just gotta turn right instead of left and you can’t miss it!”

“Meet you there?”

Sora nods enthusiastically as he practically dashes back into his truck. Riku laughs as he misses his door handle at first grab before turning himself to get into his car. The drive back to the campus road is less eventful this time, thankfully, and Riku follows as Sora turns into the lot for this tea place. It’s definitely hard to miss with it’s tacky lettering spelling out Double Bubble Tea. Riku locks his car as he waits for Sora to finish climbing out of his truck. He’s rewarded with the same blinding smile that started this adventure, and Riku shoves down his initial thoughts of attraction. Sora just wants to catch up with a childhood friend, and Riku wants that, too. 

He can ignore that said friend has grown up into a cute bundle of boyfriend material. 

Holding open the door, Sora bounces ahead of him. Riku follows, eyes pulling up to the menu. “What’s good?”

“Everything!” Sora nods when Riku shoots him an unimpressed look. “I’m serious! But I think you’d like their earl grey.”

“Do I look like such a boring tea drinker?”

Sora looks him dead in the eye. “Yes.”

“My heart, Sora.” Riku pulls his hands up to clutch at his chest. 

“You’ll live.”

Laughing, Riku steps up in line, Sora right beside him. The barista knows Sora, and Riku feels a little awkward as the two chit chat a little before Sora orders a lychee bubble tea and a lavender bubble tea. Riku lets out a questioning noise at that. Sora winks at him before pulling him to a little booth a little ways from the register. 

“You were offended by the earl grey, so I improvised.”

Riku lets out an amused huff, shaking his head. “Well, I hope I like lavender.”

“You will!” Sora’s blinding smile, again. Riku ducks his head. “Have you had boba tea before?”

“No. But I’ve heard good things.”

Nodding, Sora bits his lip. He tilts his head, and below the table Riku can feel that he’s kicking his feet, just a little. “I’m really happy you chased me to give me my smoothie cup.”

“Me, too,” Riku answers softly. He means it. Seeing Sora after all these years, happy and well and in college...it’s been a good afternoon. 

The two of them sit while they wait for their drinks, the quiet turning slightly awkward. Riku ignores the urge to fiddle his hair and is grateful when Sora’s name is called by the barista. Sora jumps up and eagerly brings their drinks back to the booth. He hands Riku his with a flourish; he then sits, waiting for Riku to take a sip, his own drink held in his hand with no intention of drinking. Riku rolls his eyes but obliges. 

“It’s good.”

A grin breaks out on Sora’s face. “I knew you’d like it.”

“You were right,” Riku says before taking another sip. 

Sora takes his first sip, hands coming to cradle the cup. “What are you majoring in?”

“I’m...” Riku looks at Sora from behind his bangs. Sora’s never been one to judge, and he hopes that’s stayed the same. Swallowing, ignoring his sudden nerves, Riku puts his cup on the table, fingers rubbing the material. “I’m not enrolled in college.”

“Oh.” Sora blinks at him, confused. “But you were on campus...?”

The cup feels rough under his fingers. “Yeah. I was waiting for someone.”

“Ah.” Sora brings a hand up to his head, scratching the back of it. It’s adorable, and Riku thanks god he’s learned to have a brain-to-mouth filter when faced with cute boys. Because right away Sora looks at him with his too bright eyes, and smiles, sly. “A special someone?”

“Hell, no. Mickey’s old enough to be my dad.”

His statement makes Sora snort then fall into giggles. “Oh, man, do you mean Crazy Mickey? You were waiting for _Crazy Mickey_?”

“...why is he called ‘Crazy Mickey’?” Riku brings his tea up to take a sip. The nickname definitely fits, Riku thinks, but he’s worried about what Mickey could have done to be identified simply from his name and age alone. And what classes he and Sora would even be taking at the same time.

Sora’s eyes widen, and Riku knows that what’s coming next is going to easily going to be ridiculous. “Okay, so, I’m in woodshop, right? And Mickey’s in it, too. Our professor showed up week one, and no one’s seen him since. A lot of the students are repeaters since there’s only one shop class, though, so it’s no big deal. But one day a girl forgot to tuck her necklace into her shirt, and it got caught. She’s fine; she slipped out of it before anything happened, but Mickey _stuck his hand into the machine to get it out_. He _stuck his hand_ into a machine that could _cut his fingers off_ and unstuck the necklace. He didn’t turn the machine off.”

Riku blinks as he takes the story in. And then he blinks again. Then he sips his tea. That is exactly something Mickey would do. “And let me guess, he just handed her the necklace like that was normal?”

“Yep. And he didn’t realize that everyone was staring at him. Is he that hardcore about _everything_?”

Shaking his head, Riku huffs. “I wouldn’t call it hardcore so much as _obliviousness_ , but yes.”

“Oh my god.”

“Yep. But he’s a great friend.”

“I can see that.” Sora’s feet kick out a little, and Riku realizes that he’s probably going to do that this whole affair. “So what’s Mickey studying?”

“The better question is what isn’t Mickey studying. This is like his tenth time attending college.”

“Oh, man. That’s cool, though.”

Riku shrugs. “What about you?”

“Teaching!” Sora’s voice gets loud and excited as he says it, his smile the largest it’s been all evening. “I wanna teach around first grade level!”

“You’re going to be a great teacher, Sora. Your students are going to love you.”

A slight flush dusts Sora’s cheeks and his hand comes up to his head again, Riku notes. “Aw, I still have to get through college first. But thanks, Riku. It means a lot.”

“I mean it. The world needs more enthusiastic teachers like you.”

Sora smiles shyly at him, and the sight sends his heart thumping in his chest. Quickly taking a sip of tea to hid what he knows is the beginnings of his own blush, Riku spares a thought that if he grew his hair another two inches, he’d never have to worry about anyone seeing any expression on his face at all. Cup half empty, now, Riku sets it on the table before him. He fishes for a safe topic to talk about, something not too deep. He wants to circle back to Sora saying he’s not the only one to _run away_ , but Riku doesn’t want to have that get turned back on him. Not so soon, and definitely not in a college bubble tea shop. 

“So, your car? How’d you get a _truck_?”

Sora scratches his cheek. “It’s Uncle Goofy’s old one. This city’s too big to get around without transportation, and Daisy feels safer if I don’t have to wait for the bus.”

“...I don’t remember an Uncle Goofy. Long lost relative?”

“Oh.” Sora looks sheepish. “Nah. We aren’t related by blood. He and Donald basically adopted me when I came to the mainland. Daisy’s Donald’s girlfriend.”

Riku is curious but swallows it down. He’s not going to ask the nitty gritty; Sora didn’t ask him about Mickey, after all. “Well, I hope one of them knows how to fix up pieces of crap because that truck has definitely seen better days.”

“Hey! It runs just fine! And we all know how to fix it up!”

“Do you, now?”

There’s a gleam in Sora’s eye. “Yep! Goofy’s a mechanic, and I know everything he does.”

“Uh huh.” Riku makes an amused sound. “Well, I’ll hit you up if my car starts making funny noises.”

“Good.” Sora digs into his pocket and pulls out his phone. Riku obligingly takes it and puts his number in. He texts himself, and Sora gives him a soft smile. “I’ll be your personal mechanic.”

Riku’s heart skips a beat. “I’ll try not to abuse that.”

“Also, now I can send you pictures! If only smartphones existed when we were kids.”

The last sentence is quiet, like Sora wasn’t sure if he wanted to be that wistful. Riku feels it like a sharp knife in the gut. If smartphones existed when they were kids, Riku still wouldn’t have kept in contact. He’d have thrown the one his parents bought him into the ocean and wouldn’t have had the funds to buy another. But Sora doesn’t need to know that; he simply missed his best friend, and Riku left him all by himself. Reaching out, Riku puts his hand over Sora’s.

“Hey.” Sora’s eyes meet his. “Now you know all the names of the bugs you want to send me pictures of.”

A full body laugh rips through Sora, and Riku feels warmth settle his stomach at being able to produce it. They’ll be okay. Sora’s not mad at him, and Riku has no plans to run away this time.


End file.
